Friends in Exile
by Mongoose Lover
Summary: In Lion King, Scar was upset that the hyenas didn't kill Mufasa. But what if they had? After Mufasa is killed by Shenzi, Scar convinces Simba and Nala that Mufasa's death was their fault and to run far away and never returned. After Scar fails to assassinate them, they go to live with Timon and Pumba and have a daughter, Kiara. However, when Zazu finds them, they must go back.
1. OPENING

**FRIENDS IN EXILE**

* * *

 **CHARACTERS**

* * *

 **Simba Male Lion Alignment: Good**

 **Nala Female Lion Alignment: Good**

 **Zazu Male Hornbill Alignment: Good**

 **Rafiki Male Mandrill Alignment: Good**

 **Mufasa Male Lion Alignment: Good**

 **Sarabi Female Lion Alignment: Good**

 **Sarafina Female Lion Alignment: Good**

 **Fellita (OC) Female Ostrich Alignment: Good**

 **Woga (OC) Male Zebra Alignment: Good**

 **Timon Male Meerkat Alignment: Good**

 **Pumbaa Male Warthog Alignment: Good**

 **Kiara Female Lion Alignment: Good**

 **Vitani Female Lion Alignment: Undecided**

 **Nuka Male Lion Alignment: Undecided**

 **Kovu Male Lion Alignment: Undecided**

 **Ed Male Hyena Alignment: Undecided**

 **Jasiri Female Hyena Alignment: Undecided**

 **Banzai Male Hyena Alignment: Bad**

 **Hofu(OC) Male Jackal Alignment: Bad**

 **Hyena Clan Mixed Hyena Alignment: Bad**

 **Lastig (OC) Male Hornbill Alignment: Bad**

 **Betken (OC) Female Hornbill Alignment: Bad**

 **Zira Female Lion Alignment: Bad**

 **Shenzi Female Hyena Alignment: Evil**

 **Scar Male Lion Alignment: Evil**

* * *

 **OPENING**

* * *

To Be Continued


	2. CHAPTER TWO: LASTIG AND BETKEN

**(Note, I know these are just increments, but I wanted to show what I'd done so far. And yes, I KNOW that there are chapters missing. I'm just going to upload what I've done so far to see what people think and to get pointers on where to go.)**

 **CHAPTER TWO: LASTIG AND BETKEN**

* * *

"There's one in every family, Sire. Two in mine." Zazu sighed. He thought of his pesky cousin Lastig and his wife Betken. Lastig wanted to be majordomo. It was a good thing that he was majordomo instead of his cousin. Lastig's advice, if followed by Mufasa, would send the Pridelands down a dark path.

A few minutes after leaving Mufasa, he came across his cousin Lastig. "Hello Wazoo." he said mockingly to his cousin. Zazu scowled. He hated when Lastig made fun of his name.

"it's Zazu!" the hornbill grumbled.

"Whatever." laughed Lastig.

"Why don't you make like the wind and go blow someplace else?" Zazu snapped at him.

"Why don't you be like a clam and keep your mouth shut?" Lastig laughed.

(To Be Continued)


	3. CHAPTER THREE: SIMBA AND MUFASA

**CHAPTER THREE: SIMBA AND MUFASA**

* * *

It was about an hour before dawn in the Pridelands. Young Simba stirred. Today was the day he had been waiting for. Though it was early, he couldn't go back to sleep. His father was going to show him the kingdom today. He ran across the den, stepping over, and sometimes on, sleeping lionesses as he moved toward his father and mother. "Dad, get up! Come on, get up! Today's the day!" he cried excitedly.

Mufasa groaned Simba's antics had also woken up Sarabi. "Your son is up." she said.

"Before the sun is up, he's _your_ son!" Mufasa replied.

Sarabi groaned. "Simba, please wait an hour. It's not even dawn yet." she said.

"But I _can't_ go back to sleep!" Simba protested.

"Then just wait here till your father is up."

"But that's _boring_!"

"I'm afraid some things in life are boring Simba; you'll just have to learn to put up with them."

To amuse himself, Simba began to prance all around the cave, stepping on lionesses that were asleep, or at least trying to be, in the process. They all groaned as Simba walked on them.

"Simba, cut it out!" Sarabi snapped at him.

"Sorry Mom." he replied. He sat there impatiently for an hour, which seemed to him to drag on forever. Finally, sunrise came, and Mufasa awoke. As Mufasa stood up and stretched and yawned, Simba piped excitedly "It's time! It's time! Let's go! Let's go!"

(To Be Continued)


	4. CHAPTER FOUR: SIMBA AND NALA

**CHAPTER FOUR: SIMBA AND NALA**

* * *

Simba didn't have many friends of about his age that he played with. For one thing, being the next in line to the throne meant that his activities were restricted more than your average cub, which was off-putting to many would-be friends. For another, his cocky behavior was also irksome to many of his playmates. However, there was one lion cub that didn't seem to mind having to put up with the restrictions of playing with the only child of Mufasa nor did she mind his cockiness. Her name was Nala.

No, he wasn't in love with her. At least, he wouldn't admit it. Both of them thought being in love, at least at their tender age, to be gross. If you asked Simba about girls, he'd tell you that they had cooties and were meant to be friends but nothing more.

"Do you think that if you pull on a zebra's tail, that it will cause it to break wind?" Simba asked.

"Don't know. I've never really cared to try and find out." Nala replied.

Simba greedily eyed a teenaged zebra, who was currently complaining to his mother "Yuck, that grass looks disgusting! Too dry!" Do I **have** to eat it?"

"Yes, it's the best we can find today. It hasn't rained in a while." his mother replied.

"I'm going to try it and find out." Simba whispered to Nala. He slowly crept up on the teenage zebra, who was eating the grass, wrinkling his nose is disgust. After finishing off the grass, the zebra began to moan "My stomach doesn't feel that great."

Simba leapt up at the zebra from behind and yanked on his tail, just as he broke wind due to his upset stomach. PHHHHBT! "What do you know, it worked!" Simba cried excitedly as Nala was on all fours, banging the ground and laughing.

Mufasa, who was in the vicinity but hadn't witnessed the incident, heard Nala laughing and came over to investigate. "Nala, what did you find so funny?" he asked.

"Simba pulled on a zebra's tail and he broke wind. He was right. It does work." Nala replied, still laughing hard.

Mufasa himself chuckled about the matter for a few seconds but, being a mature adult, soon composed himself and became serious again. "Simba, that's no way to treat a zebra." he scolded his son.

"But you said we can even eat them." Simba argued.

"Eat for food, yes. Yank on their tails to try and get them to break wind, no."

"But I thought it was funny." Simba said defensively.

"Maybe to you, but not to the poor zebra."

"But I thought I was going to be the king and could do whatever I wanted."

"A king cannot do whatever he wants."

"What do you mean? Who is the boss of the king?" asked Simba, feeling both shocked and disappointed that the king had to answer to somebody.

"The job of the king is to uphold the delicate balance of the Circle of Life."

"The Circle of Life?"

"It is the delicate balance among the creatures and between them and their environment."

"How do you protect it?"

[Stuff in between]

Simba felt a bit let down. The attempt of Mufasa's to impress upon him the importance and responsibility of the king looking out for others and maintaining the balance of the Circle of Life had gone right over his head.

The next day, he met with Nala again. The two were being watched by Zazu. "What did you think about what your father said about being king?" Nala asked Simba.

"His idea of being a king is no fun. When I take over, things are going to be a whole lot different."

"Like how?" Nala and Zazu asked.

Simba began to sing "I'm going to be a mighty king, so enemies beware!"

"I've never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair." Zazu scoffed

[Stuff in between, if needed]

"I'm brushing up on looking down. I'm working on my roar." Simba sang, emitting a, to him and Nala, good, but to Zazu, pitiful, roar.

"Thus far a rather uninspiring thing." the hornbill replied, shaking his head.

"Oh I just can't wait to be king!" Simba sang.

(To Be Continued)


	5. Chapter FIVE: SCAR AND SHENZI

**CHAPTER FIVE: SCAR AND SHENZI**

* * *

Scar walked into the Outlands. Unbeknownst to his brother, he was friends with the hyenas that lived in the Elephant Graveyard. Their leader was named Shenzi.


	6. CHAPTER FIVE: SIMBA AND SCAR

**CHAPTER FIVE: SIMBA AND SCAR**

* * *

Simba came to visit his uncle Scar. He was oblivious to the fact that his uncle loathed him. "Hello Uncle Scar." he said.

"Hello Simba." Scar replied unenthusiastically.

"Guess what Uncle Scar!" Simba said excitedly.

"I despise guessing games." Scar grumbled.

"You're so funny!" Simba laughed.

"I know. Unfortunately, your father didn't make me the royal jester." Scar chuckled.

Simba, who didn't know what that meant, replied "Don't worry Uncle Scar, when I'm king, I'll make you the royal jester."

"Oh goodie. Thank you, Simba." Scar replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Also, once I'm king, I'm going to fire Zazu and appoint somebody more fun." Simba continued.

"Interesting." Scar replied.

"I could appoint you, as you're more fun than he is, but I'm already appointing you to be the royal jester, so I hope you won't be too busy." Simba said.

"At least _somebody_ appreciates me." Scar chuckled.

(To Be Continued. I'm struggling right now with this chapter. I'm trying to have this chapter give off the sense that Scar actually thinks that Simba is more like himself at that moment than Mufasa and is somewhat pleased that Simba will be the more bossy type commanding others around rather than the gentler "serve everyone" type like Mufasa, but, at the same time, I want Scar to get the impression that having to take orders from a King Simba would be a nightmare so bad that, in his mind, murdering him would be a viable option.)


	7. CHAPTER SIX: THE SCHEME

**CHAPTER SIX: THE SCHEME**

* * *

Scar had had enough! Mufasa and Sarabi had been childless forever. The shaman Rafiki had asked the Kings of the Past in desperation to give them a child. Scar hadn't thought much of it, as he considered all of that to be a bunch of mumbo jumbo. However, much to his shock, it had worked, for, sometime later, Sarabi announced to everyone that she was pregnant.

That would have been bad enough on its own, but the latest incident with Simba had been the final straw. To think of that little brat as king, telling him what to do, when he had been _so_ close to getting the throne, was too much for him to bear!

However, the question remained, how was he to get rid of Simba and Mufasa? If he killed only Simba, Sarabi and Mufasa might have another cub. On the other hand, if he killed only Mufasa, then Sarabi, not himself, would be acting monarch until Simba was old enough to rule on his own. If the king and all of his children were dead, then control of the monarchy would pass to the eldest sibling of the king, which would be him, thus he had to ensure that both Mufasa and Simba died.

But where could he do this? Surely not in sight of the other Pridelanders. No, it would have to be outside the Pridelands, with no other witnesses. Could it work in the desert? Perhaps, but how could he best Mufasa and Simba on his own? He had spoken the truth when he had said that he wouldn't win in a fight against Mufasa based on brute strength alone. So he would need help. He wasn't likely to get it in the desert for he had no allies there.

He knew where he _did_ have allies, though. With the hyenas, with Shenzi's clan. But how was he to get Simba and Mufasa to the Elephant Graveyard and have the hyenas kill them? Even if he got them there, many of the hyenas were several feathers short of an ostrich meal and were unlikely to be smart enough to pull this off. Mufasa could outwit them and not expend too much effort. For that matter, even Simba might be able to outwit some of them. But they had numbers. Brute strength, plus it was their territory, not Mufasa's, so they had that going for them. After killing Mufasa and Simba, he could drag the bodies to the edge of the desert and leave them there. That way, he could pin it on some Outlanders that Mufasa had banished from the Pridelanders and get the hyenas cleared of suspicion.

However, he'd need someone other than himself to send Mufasa to his doom after he'd lured Simba to the Elephant Graveyard. If he was the one that told Mufasa that Simba was in danger, especially if there were possible witnesses around when he did so, some in the Pridelands may come to suspect that he had a role in his brother's death.

He recalled overhearing an argument recently between Zazu and his cousin Betken and his wife Lastig.

(To Be Continued)


	8. CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD

**CHAPTER SEVEN: THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD**

* * *

Simba and Nala, meanwhile, were laughing. "All right, it worked." Simba laughed.

"We lost them." Nala said.

"I am a genius!"

"Hey genius, it was _my_ idea!"

"Yeah, but _I_ pulled it off."

"With me."

"Oh yeah?"

Simba lunged at Nala and tried to knock her over. The two tussled. Nala came out on top.

"Pinned ya."

"Hey, let me up!"

Simba lunged at Nala again and the two went rolling down a steep bank. When they reached the bottom, Nala again came out on top. "Pinned ya again!"

A steam vent erupted nearby. The two turned to stare at it. They soon realized that they were not in the Pride Lands anymore, for this didn't look familiar at all. They looked around and spotted many elephant bones and skulls. "This is it. We made it." Simba said excitedly,

The two climbed to the top of a hill and then looked down into a region full of elephantbones. "Whoa!" they gasped in awe.

"It's really creepy." Nala said.

"Yeah. Isn't it great?"

"We could get in big trouble."

"I know!"

They stared at an elephant skull. "I wonder if its brains are still in there."

"There's only one way to know. Come on, let's go check it out."

Before they could look further, however, Zazu appeared and flew into their path, blocking the way. "Wrong, the only checking out you will do will be to check out of here. "

"Oh man!" Simba moaned.

"We're way beyond the boundary of the Pride Lands."

"Look, banana beak is scared."

"It's Mr. Banana Beak to you, fuzzy, and right now, we are in very real danger!" Zazu snapped at Simba, not liking the look of the Elephant Graveyard.

"Danger? Ha! I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger! Ha haha!" Simba laughed.

"Ha haha he hehehe!" came more laughs. These definitely didn't come from Simba! They were more high-pitched and eerie.

Three hyenas emerged. There was Ed the dimwitted hyena, Banzai, the lead male hyena, and Shenzi, the Queen of the entire Hyena Clan. Zazu, Simba, and Nala backed away in alarm as the trio advanced toward them.

"Well, well, well Banzai, what have we got here?" Queen Shenzi said to her mate.

"I don't know Shenzi. What do you think Ed?" Banzai said to Ed. Ed giggled manically in reply. "Just what I was thinking. A trio of trespassers!"

"And quite by accident, let me assure me. A simple navigational error." Zazu said nervously, hoping to avoid being attacked or eaten. He turned to go, but Shenzi grabbed him.

"Oh wait wait, I know you. You're Mufasa's little stooge!"

"I, madame, am the King's majordomo."

"So that would make you..." Banzai said to Simba.

"The future King." Simba replied smugly.

"Do you know what we do to kings who step out of their kingdom?" Shenzi asked him.

"You can't do anything to me!" Simba said in annoyance.

"Uh, technically they can. We are on their land." Zazu nervously whispered to Simba.

"But Zazu, you told me that they're nothing but nasty slobbering mangy stupid poachers."

This made Zazu very worried! "Ixnay on the upidstay." Zazu said to Simba, hoping that Simba would get that the hyenas were listening and that it was not wise to call them stupid in front of them.

"Hey, who you calling upidstay?!" Banzai snapped.

"My mymy, look at the sun. It's time to go!" Zazu muttered nervously, turning to leave with Simba and Nala.

Shenzi blocked their way. "What's the hurry? We'd love for you to stick around for dinner."

"Yeah, we could have whatever's lion around." Banzai laughed.

"I got one. I got one. Make mine a cub sandwich!" Shenzi laughed.

Eg laughed at their jokes. Banzai suddenly turned to the two and asked "Did we order this dinner to go?"

"No, why?" Shenzi asked.

"Cuz there it goes!" Banzai shouted. Simba, Nala, and Simba had ran off while they had been cracking jokes.

The trio soon caught Zazu. Simba and Nala, however, kept on running. Finally, they paused.

"Did we lose them?" Simba asked.

"Where's Zazu?" Nala asked.

They soon found that Banzai and Ed had him. They put him over a vent and he got shot through the air when the vent erupted. Shenzi glared at the two males as she watched as Banzai said "The little major-domo bird hippety hopped all the way to the birdy boiler!"

Ed and Banzai laughed as Zazu cried "Oh no, not the birdy boiler!" before being sent off into the air as the vent erupted.

Shenzi scowled at them. "We were _supposed_ to kill him!" she whispered to Banzai and Ed. The three hyenas turned around as they heard Simba shouting at them.

"Hey, why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Simba snapped.

"Like you?" Shenzi asked.

"Oops." Simba said nervously.

Meanwhile, Mufasa had heard from the other animals that Simba and Nala had been this way. What had Zazu been thinking to let them go this far out? He heard Simba and Nala yelling for help. The cubs were in danger! He had to save them! He ran as fast as he could after the sound of their voices.

His brother, Scar, meanwhile, had slipped by unnoticed into the Hyena's Lair. He planned to watch the demise of Simba in person. He was to be disappointed in that effort but ended up getting even more than he'd hoped for.


	9. CHAPTER EIGHT: CUBS IN PERIL

**CHAPTER EIGHT: CUBS IN PERIL**

* * *

Zazu landed with a splat in a big puddle of mud. "Yeck!" he moaned. He shook the mud off of his feathers. He then began to try and find the kids. "Those poaching hyenas will kill those two cubs if I can't find them in time. I told them that this was a bad idea!" he said to himself. "Simba! Nala! Where are you? Come this way. I'll distract them while you run."

The two cubs, meaning, continued to run from the hyenas. They began to climb a pile of bones. Nala slipped and began to slide downward to the hungry hyenas. "Simba!" she cried. Simba ran down and slashed Shenzi across the face to keep her from attacking Nala. The two lions quickly bolted. Shenzi snarled in anger.

"I'll get that little brat for this!" she vowed angrily.

Banzai and Ed quickly came to their leader. "Whoa, Shenzi, what happened to you?" Banzai asked, staring at the bleeding gash on her face.

"The 'future king' slashed me." Shenzi snapped.

"What, you, our fearsome leader, got cut by a little lion cub?" Banzai laughed. Ed joined in. They stopped laughing quickly as Shenzi icily glared at them. "Well, he isn't going to be king of anything now!" Banzai growled.

"Let's kill these little brats!" Shenzi cried. "We should split up instead of going all at once. These are only puny little cubs. I'm sure each of us can kill them. Scar wants Simba dead, and it's best if we kill the girl too. She knows too much."

"Got it." Banzai replied.

Ed didn't much like the idea. While he'd knocked off lion cubs for food before, he, unlike Queen Shenzi and her mate, who happened to be his brother, Banzai, didn't like killing for sport. Besides, one of the cubs was the son of the Lion King. He mightnot have been the brightest hyena, but the idea seemed foolish even to him. What if Mufasa found out? Still, he knew that openly crossing his sister-in-law was dangerous and nodded, pretending to go along.

Mufasa, meanwhile, came across Zazu.  
"Sire, thank goodness you've come! Hyenas are chasing the kids!" Zazu cried, zooming frantically toward Mufasa as fast as his wings could carry him.  
"Zazu, you were supposed to be watching the cubs!" Mufasa grumbled.  
"Well sire, going here wasn't my idea, I can assure you. But it's important right now that we find them before those hyenas do!"  
"Stay here Zazu. I'll deal with the hyenas."  
"Sire! All by yourself? Surely you could use my help."  
"You couldn't even fend them off earlier. You'll only get yourself killed. I can handle this."  
"But sire...!"  
"That's an order!"  
With reluctance the hornbill halted, letting the King go on alone. Mufasa moved out of sight. "Be careful." Zazu said.

Shenzi, meanwhile, had spotted Simba and Nala, who had reached a dead end. "There they are. Let's finish..." She paused as a huge maned shadow came into sight. "Mufasa!" she cried.

"Get away from Nala and my son!" he bellowed.

"You're not the King out here!" she laughed.

Mufasa leaped at her in anger. However, she moved aside. Mufasa didn't know it, but she had learned a trick on how to overcome a lion. Scar had told her that lions may have stronger power and speed, but they had less stamina than a hyena. Banzai yelled "Hey Mufasa, I'm going to kill the kids!"

Mufasa moved in his direction to ensure that he would not be able to harm the cubs. "Over here! I'm going to kill the cubs!" Shenzi taunted. Mufasa moved toward her.

"Over here!" Banzai taunted.

As Mufasa turned to look at Banzai, he noticed that Ed was moving toward the cubs. He didn't know it, but Ed was trying to save them, figuring that killing them would achieve nothing for him except to bring down the wrath of the entire Pridelands upon him. Mufasa chased after him and knocked him over. "Get away from my son!" he thundered. Ed nodded.

"Good ole Ed. He's distracted Mufasa. Now, I can get the Clan." Shenzi said to her mate. She let out a loud high-pitched yell. Mufasa heard a loud thundering. What was that? Soon, with horror, he realized what it was, the other hyenas in the Clan had arrived.

"This is the end of you Mufasa!" Shenzi laughed.


	10. CHAPTER NINE: MURDER IN THE OUTLANDS

**CHAPTER NINE: MURDER IN THE OUTLANDS**

* * *

Shenzi and her minions moved in on Mufasa. "Don't do this Shenzi!" Mufasa yelled.

"Deal with Mufasa. I'll kill the cubs." Shenzi told the cackle*.

While Mufasa and the hyena cackle fought, Simba and Nala, unaware that Mufasa was nearby, searched for a way out of the Elephant Graveyard. "This was a bad idea to come here. Scar was right." Simba said to Nala.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Nala asked.

"We'll have to find a different way out than the way we came. There's no way I'm going back there!" He looked around and spotted what looked like the entrance to a cave. The two slowly crept toward it. They had both learned how to silently creep toward prey from their parents. However, now, ironically, they _were_ the prey and were trying to avoid being eaten.

They spotted Ed nearby. They silently crept passed him. Ed, did, in fact, see them, but pretended not to, and they were none the wiser that he knew. They found themselves in a huge room with many ledges and even lava vents. "This place looks creepy!" Nala cried softly.

"Creepier than getting eaten by hyenas?" Simba asked. Nala shook her head.

Meanwhile, Shenzi came across Ed. "Ed, you see them cubs anywhere?" his sister-in-law asked. Ed shook his head. "I well if you find them, kill them. I'm going to help the others beat Mufasa." she said, turning around to head back the other way.

The fight against Mufasa wasn't going so well. Mufasa normally kept his full strength in reserve and didn't display it except in extreme situations. However, this was definitely such a situation, and it was clear to the Hyena Clan that Mufasa was not an easy opponent! Several hyenas had been killed by the Lion King.

Banzai and the other hyenas with him had begun to retreat. "Fall back!" Banzai yelled.

Mufasa ran further into the Elephant Graveyard, looking for Simba and Nala. "Simba! Nala!"

Simba and Nala heard Mufasa call. "Dad!" Simba cried.

"He's this way!" Shenzi called to the other hyenas. Most of the other hyenas ran off toward the direction of Simba's voice.

"NO!" Mufasa bellowed, charging after Shenzi, Banzai, and the hyenas that were still with them.

Shenzi pretended like she was still headed toward Simba, but then she rapidly changed course by turning around and lunging at Mufasa. He was so off guard that she was able to get a bite on his leg in. "AAAUGH!" he cried out in pain.

He snapped back at her, but she moved out of his way. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" She taunted him.

Mufasa continued on, for he felt that saving Simba and Nala was his most important priority at the moment. Protecting his own personal safety took a backseat to that. "Simba! Nala! I'm over here!" he cried.

Simba heard his father call again. "Dad! We're over here!" he called in reply.

"He sounds close by." Nala said to Simba.

"I think he's coming from this direction." Simba said, beginning to head left. He suddenly paused and turned pale.

"What is it Simba? Why did you...?" Nala paused, for she saw quite clearly why he'd stopped. A dozen hyenas, frothing at the mouth, barred their way. "Run!"

The two spotted a pile of bones, going upward to a ledge above, at the opposite side of the room. "This way!" Simba called to Nala. They quickly dashed up the bone pile, which began to crumble behind them. The pursuing hyenas quickly moved aside to avoid being buried by the falling bones. Simba stuck his tongue out at the hyenas and making a mocking motion with his paws waving near his mouth. "Na na! You won't be getting us today! Ha haha!" he laughed.

"Come on Simba, let's get out of here." Nala said to him.

"Ok." he said. The two moved through an opening in the wall and came out on top of a ledge facing the side of the Elephant Graveyard facing away from Pride Rock. "How do we get back home from here?"

"Not sure. But let's make sure we avoid those hyenas. We don't want them to spot us again."

Mufasa, meanwhile, had been unable to locate Simba and Nala, and, from what he could tell, the hyenas had been equally unsuccessful.

As he made his way toward the exit of the cave-like room in the Elephant Graveyard, he saw the hyenas retreating from him. _They're going to pay for this!_ he thought. As he came within a few feet of the exit, he heard a high-pitched laugh. "Leaving so soon Mufasa?"

Before Mufasa could turn around, Shenzi attacked him, biting him in the neck. "Aaarrggh!" Mufasa cried in pain, trying to throw her off. He spun around, desperately trying to throw her off of him. He spotted his brother Scar. "Scar, brother, help me!" he cried.

To his horror, he saw his brother smirk. "Long live the king!" Scar said. He leaped at Mufasa and attacked him. Together with Shenzi's help, they were able to murder Mufasa. Mufasa died with an expression of shock on his face, having been betrayed by his own brother.

Banzai came into the room, having heard Shenzi fighting Mufasa. He said Mufasa dead. "Holy smokes! He's dead! Mufasa is dead! Our planned worked...well, mostly."

"What do you mean, 'mostly'?" Scar snapped.

"Well, the cubs, they're still alive!"

* * *

*For those wondering, a cackle is simply the proper term for a group of hyenas, just like owls are called parliaments, baboons are called troops, and lions called prides .


	11. CHAPTER TEN: THE RISE OF SCAR

**CHAPTER TEN: THE RISE OF SCAR**

* * *

"What do you mean the cubs survived?!" Scar snapped.

"Well, you know, they climbed up some bones and they went out of reach. Of course, we tried to go after them but then the bones fell down, and, well, they got away." Banzai replied.

"Idiots!" Scar grumbled."Did you at least kill Zazu?"

"What should we do now? Those cubs will be on their way back to the Pride Lands. If they tell anyone, we're in deep trouble! I'm not sure that I can overtake them." Shenzi asked Scar.

"I can catch up with them. However, if I kill them in the Pridelands, it may lead to awkward questions."

"What do you mean?" Banzai asked.

"Like how they died for one. Mufasa has angered many Outlanders. His death could be passed off as mere revenge. However, an attack in the Pridelands itself would lead to too much of an investigation. It can't be passed off as a random attack. They might catch our scents on Mufasa and that would be the end of us. Thus, they have to be made to believe that it was a random attack that took down Mufasa, Simba, and Nala and that the two cubs were tragically eaten alive. Therefore, we need to get them back out here into the Outlands. Then we can get rid of them."

"Good, then there won't be a king in the Pridelands!" Banzai laughed gleefully.

"Actually, there will." Scar corrected him.

"Who? If Mufasa is dead and we're going to kill Simba, who would be the new leader, Sarabi? Why didn't we lure her out here too so that there would be no leader of the Pridelands? Then we could slip in and take over and get back the land they stole from us." Banzai asked.

"I agree. We've waited centuries to get the Pridelands back. And now, with no King, perhaps we can find a way to take over." Shenzi remarked.

" _I_ will be King. Sarabi won't be queen as I am still here. As Mufasa's brother, the throne is mine." Scar said.

"Wait, why should we help you become the new king? What's in it for us?" Banzai asked.

"I'm glad you asked." Scar replied coolly. Life has been hard, and I think we all know, that when it comes to waiting, things seem to be going very slow. But today our fortunes have taken a drastic turn.

[Stuff in between]

Zazu saw Scar approach. Zazu noticed the many cuts on Scar, some of which were still bleeding heavily. His mane was splattered with blood. "Scar, what happened to you?" Zazu asked.

Scar pretended to be grieving. "I'm afraid I couldn't save them." he said sadly.

"Save whom?" Zazu asked.

"Simba, Nala, and my brother. I fought them off but, alas, I was too late!" Scar took Zazu to the body of Mufasa. "They must have eaten the cubs, because I never found them but can only assume the worst."

"Oh, the poor children! It's all my fault!" Zazu moaned. He remembered how he'd been stern on Simba and Nala only two hours earlier. True, the young cubs had deserved it, but he felt guilty that the last words he had said to Simba and Nala had been to scold them.

[Stuff in between]

Simba saw his father. He wasn't moving. He and Nala ran toward him. "Dad, get up1" he said, prodding at his father. Mufasa didn't move.

"King Mufasa?" Nala said, wondering why the king wasn't moving. Again, Mufasa didn't respond. The two pulled and prodded at him but he still did not move.

Scar, watching the two from behind a boulder, grinned. He could see them, but they couldn't see him. Having made himself look like he was injured in a fight with the hyena, and, having gotten Zazu to agree to agree to being banishment, all that remained was to dispose of Prince Simba and the lioness to whom he had been set to be betrothed. With the future king and queen gone, the throne was his forever. He couldn't just kill the kids himself, however. His scent might be detected on their bodies.

[To Be Continued]


	12. FLIGHT OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: FLIGHT OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS**

* * *

Simba and Nala saw the hyenas coming at them. "Run!" Nala yelled.

Simba certainly didn't need telling twice. The two lions ran as Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, and several other hyenas came racing toward them, casting long shadows from the waning light of the setting sun. Simba almost wanted to get caught. What did it matter if he got killed now? His father was dead, and his life was ruined. He'd _never_ get to be king now!

Nala, seeing him slow down, urged him on. "Come on Simba! We can't let these creeps get us too!"

"After them! We must finish the job!" Shenzi commanded her group of hyenas. It was imperative that they killed the cubs. Otherwise, the line of secession would go to Sarabi until Simba was old enough to be king on his own. While it said unlikely that Simba and Nala would go back to the Pride Lands after hearing Scar's lie about the whole thing being all their fault, neither Shenzi nor Scar wanted to take any chances.

Simba and Nala approached a fast-moving stream. Luckily for them, there was a line of rocks going across the stream that they could use as stepping stones. Simba and Nala got across, though Simba nearly fell in midway across after slipping on a wet rock. Luckily, Nala had been able to pull him back up. After they had gotten across, Simba continued on but Nala stayed behind.

"What are you doing?" Simba asked, worried that the hyenas would catch up with them.

"Removing these rocks so that the dirtbags will have a harder time getting across." Nala replied.

The hyenas came to the stream a short time later. Some foolishly tried to cross anyway and were swept downstream. The others, however, learning from the mistake of their companions, followed the stream until they could find a better place to cross. This delay, however, did give Simba and Nala the chance to put further distance between themselves and the vicious hyenas.

"We need to get back home! They'll kill us out here In the open!" Nala said.

"Don't you remember what Scar said? We _can't_ go back home!" Simba replied.

"We could try going back anyway. They'll kill us for sure out here in the Elephant Graveyard!"

The two of them began to head toward the Pridelands. As they approached the boundary of the Pridelands, however, they realized that the hyenas had anticipated them coming this way. Luckily, the two cubs were able to spot the hyenas before the hyenas could spot them.

"Oops, looks like we can't go that way." Simba whispered to Nala.

They began to turn around and head back the other way. However, in the distance, they could some more hyenas coming from the direction that they had just left. It appeared that they neither could safely go to the Pridelands nor could they turn around. But then, where could they go?

"Oh, it looks like we're done for!" Nala began to sob.

Simba, though still suffering intense shock and grief from losing his father, didn't want to give in to despair just yet. He quickly looked around and saw a small passagebetween two rocks. "That way!" he whispered to Nala. The two bolted as quickly as they could toward the rocks.

They had almost completely passed through the hole between the rocks when the hyenas spotted their tails moving out of sight. "After them!" Shenzi commanded her cackle. Ed, Banzai, and several other hyenas headed through the crack after them.

Ed was in front but didn't want to harm Simba and Nala. He hadn't wanted Mufasa to die and didn't want to kill Prince Simba. This had already gone further than he'd wanted with the death of Mufasa. However, Scar and Shenzi were counting on him to help get rid of the cubs. If he were caught helping them, he was sure the cackle would kill him. How could he let the cubs get away and make it look like an accident?

Ed let Banzai pass him. He had an idea that might buy the cubs at least a little bit of time. Nala slipped climbing a steep hill and Banzai moved to strike her. Ed leapt forward too, though he wasn't truly aiming for Nala. As he sank his teeth into Banzai's tail, he heard his brother cry out in pain. "YOW!" He turned and glared at Ed. Ed innocently giggled, as though the thing was just one big joke. He was well-known for laughing at stupid things, so Banzai didn't pay much heed to his actions. "idiot!" Banzai grumbled, slapping him in the face. Nala, meanwhile, had reached the top of the hill in the confusion and had moved out of , pretending to try and atone for his "mistake" in biting Banzai in the tail and hoping to find where the cubs were and misdirect the cackle away from them, moved ahead of the others and went up the hill first.

Simba and Nala, meanwhile, saw a steep drop off up ahead. "What are we going to do now?" Nala asked Simba.

Simba looked down. It seemed like a steep drop. It was uncertain if they'd survive jumping off. He hesitated, unsure of what to do. Could they try and look for somewhere to hide? There didn't seem to be many good hiding spots, but, on the other hand, jumping off seemed likely to be suicidal.

The two saw Ed come into sight. Now that there were spotted, it was useless to try and hide. There was only one option left. The two of them moved to the edge of the drop off. Nala froze, too afraid to jump. Simba quickly grabbed Nala and jumped as Ed approached near them.

The two plunged dozens of feet. Luckily, they landed on some decaying plants, which broke their fall. These plants had been choked out by the tangled growth of thorny plants that grew nearly all around them.

Ed looked down and saw that the two cubs were alive. They, however, were unaware that he'd seen them still alive.

Simba and Nala looked around. There didn't seem to be anyway to go but forward. They were a tad bit sore from the fall, but the plants had broken their fall and kept them from serious injury. "Are you all right Nala?" Simba asked. Nala nodded. The two moved forward and out of sight of Ed. They soon left the Pridelands and the Elephant Graveyard behind and approached a broad desert. It spread out before them in the setting sun. They had no idea what was out there. However, it seemed to them that they couldn't ever return to the Pridelands, so they had to continue onward. Simba and Nala set out into the unknown as the sun sank below the horizon.

Banzai appeared over the top of the hill. "Where are the cubs?" he asked. Ed pointed down off the cliff. Banzai looked down. "So, the fools jumped. There's no way they could have survived that fall." he said. "Well down brother, you killed them. Scar will be pleased." He returned back down the hill. "Ed got them. They ran off a cliff. They're dead!" he cried. The hyena cackle below cheered. Ed, alone at the top of the cliff, shook his head.

A few hours later, Scar addressed a very shocked Pridelands. "The murder of Mufasa has saddened us all. And to lose Zazu, Simba, and Nala as well has made it nearly unbearable for me."

Sarabi and Sarafina were still in shock over the news. They had just seen Simba and Nala earlier that day, and now they were dead. Why did they agree to let the kids go to the watering hole? Why had the kids wandered off and ended up in the Elephant Graveyard? Why had the banished jackals chosen that moment to strike back? For Mufasa had banished a group of jackals a while back for overhunting and disrupting the balance in the Circle of Life. However, though they had vowed revenge, nobody ever though that they'd actually do it. Yet it clearly seemed that they had. Scar had bravely tried to fight them off, but had been unsuccessful in saving Mufasa, Simba, Nala, or Zazu. The Pride had hunted down the jackals. The adult males had all been killed and many females had also perished. The ringleaders were all dead. That was what mattered most. But Mufasa was still dead and Simba had died as well. That made Scar the next in line.

"The jackals responsible for the attacks have been punished. As they are the next-of-kin, I have made Lastig and Betken the new majordomos. I think it cannot hurt to have two instead of one, in case the worst should happen. And, due to me being the next-in-line, I will assume the throne of the Pridelands starting tonight. As my first act, I would like to end my brother's ban on hyenas entering the Pridelands." Scar said.

There were several audible gasps and many shouts in response to this announcement. Some creatures of the Pridelands had escaped the Outlands and come to the Pridelands to avoid being overhunted by the hyenas. Scar waited for the shouts and murmurs to die down before continuing "Shenzi the leader of the Hyena Clan helped me fend off the jackals. I would have died had it not been for her help. Therefore, I think we should let the old feud between my brother and the Hyena Clan die. And we shall continue on, charting a new course, and creating a new system where lion and hyena will work together." The inhabitants of the Pridelands watched in awe and shock as the long-banished hyenas walked into sight of Pride Rock. One by one they all began chanting "Long live the king! Long live the king!" A bit alarmed, but nonetheless out of respect to the new king of the Pridelands, the other inhabitants echoed them with "Long live the king! Long live the king!"

"Also, as we no longer have Zazu with us, I have decided to appoint his cousin Lastig, as the new majordomo." Scar told the pride. Lastig came forward, hiding, with difficulty, his glee about Zazu's death. He knew that the hornbill was still alive but doubted he'd ever return.

"I am sorry about my cousin's loss but believe that he would have wanted me to have his position, should anything ever happen to him." Lastig said, milking the situation for all it was worth.

"I too am sad. To lose so many on this tragic day is almost more than I can bear." added his wife Betken, hugging him and also putting on a good show.

Rafiki the mandrill watched with disdain. Rightful king or not, Scar was shaping up to be a poor leader. Based on his past encounters with Scar, Rafiki was sure that Scar would not want to let him continue the office he had under Mufasa of helping seek the will of the kings of the past to rightly govern the Pridelands. Scar was too arrogant for that. So, there was only one thing for him to do; with Mufasa and Simba dead, it was best for him to leave. Which, slowly, taking one last look at the Pridelands before turning around and heading into the Outlands, he did.

Ed, meanwhile, sighed. It was all untrue, even more than Scar knew. The jackals, who had had a prior run in with Mufasa and had been punished, hence making them a good scapegoat, were not guilty of the king's death. Zazu was banished, not dead. And, as he entered the Pridelands with the other hyenas, he was, he was certain, the only one in the Pridelands that knew that Simba and Nalawere not dead. Their survival was a potential flaw in Scar's plan. Nonetheless, with them not here, Scar's hold on the throne seemed unbreakable. But where were they now?


	13. CHAPTER TWELVE: HOFU

**CHAPTER TWELVE: HOFU**

* * *

Simba and Nala, meanwhile, continued to run for hours. Though the hyenas didn't appear to be after them, they didn't want to be caught by surprise by them out here in the open. Besides, they soon ran into other problems. A group of desert jackals had spotted them."Jackals!" Nala whispered to Simba.

"Behind here!" Simba whispered to her. They hid behind some rocks, hoping that the jackals wouldn't spot them and would walk past them. The jackals almost did walk past them. However, one of the ones in the rear accidentally bumped into Simba.

"What?" the jackal cried in shock. He noticed Simba and Nala. "Hey, look what we got here. A couple of lion cubs lost from their pride!" he cackled.

"Go away!" Nala snapped.

"What you doing out here all alone? You lose your pride?" the leader asked in a sneering tone.

"We ran away." Simba replied.

"Why would you do that?" the leader asked.

"It's none of your business!" Simba snapped.

"Get in trouble?" the leader asked, not to be deterred.

"Can't you just leave us alone?" Nala implored them.

"Why don't you go back?" the leader taunted them.

"We can't." Simba and Nala replied.

"What, did Mufasa kick you out? He kicked me out when I was a teen. I didn't like him liming what we could hunt. He never let me get any baby antelope. They're the tenderest and juiciest there are! So, I went and got some against his stupid little rules and he kicked me out for 'messing with the Circle of Life'!"

"Why would you do such a horrible thing?" Simba asked. He felt responsible for Mufasa's death, but at least he knew that he hadn't _deliberately_ caused it.

"Simple. Because I can." he replied.

"Come on, let's leave this creep!" Nala told Simba.

"Leave me? Ha! You think you can make it out here on your own?" the jackal leader laughed. Simba and Nala thought about this. They were already tired, hungry, and thirsty from being out here for about a full day.

"Who are you supposed to be? How do we know that we can trust you? We've already had back luck lately and are wary of any strangers from the Outlands." Nala said. She had always been told by her mother Sarafina that, other than some of the lions in the Outlands, any animal out there was _not_ to be trusted unless they could prove themselves friendly.

"I'm Hofu. I'm the leader of this desert band of jackals."

"And what do you want from us?" Nala asked.

"I could use two lions like you to help out. We could get everyone to fear us even more with your help." Hofu replied.

(Stuff in between)

The two rested, still panting. "Well, he was nothing but trouble." Nala huffed.

"At least we got away." Simba panted.

"Where are we?" Nala asked.

"I'm not sure. We're not anywhere I've ever been before." Simba replied.

"We need to find water. I'm really dehydrated."

"I am too. But I don't see any water around here."

"We need to find some. And quick!"

"We will. But first I need to rest." Simba collapsed to the ground, passing out.

"Simba! Simba! Oh no! Don't die on my Simba!" Nala cried. She tried to drag Simba but was only able to move him 20 feet before collapsing herself due to exhaustion and dehydration. She had collapsed 15 feet from a watering hole, but as there was a hill in the way of her view, she hadn't noticed it. Near the watering hole was a jungle that had plenty of water and trees to hide in.

But Nala did not know this, for she had fallen unconscious. The sun began to rise. It would have been the end of the two lion cubs, and they would have been picked to death by buzzards, if not for a stroke of luck.


	14. CHAPTER THIRTEEN: TIMON AND PUMBAA

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: TIMON AND PUMBAA**

* * *

A meerkat and a warthog came across them an hour later. Buzzards were surrounding the cubs and were about to pick them apart, thinking them dead or at least dead enough that they couldn't fight back. The warthog ran at the buzzards, with the meerkat on his back. The two laughed as the buzzards scattered.

"I always get a kick out of that, Pumbaa." the meerkat said.

"I do too, Timon." Pumbaa replied. He suddenly noticed the lion cubs. "What do we have here?" he said. He felt their bodies. Their hearts were beating weakly, but beating still nonetheless, and their bodies were still warm. "They're still alive." he remarked to his companion. Timon, not seeing clearly what he was looking at, came to have a closer look.

"Ug, lions!" Timon gasped, upon realizing what the two creatures were.

"Look Timon, they're just kids and they're all alone and will die out here if we don't help them!" Pumbaa argued.

"They're lions. They'd kill us, Pumbaa."

"But they're so young. We can't just leave them here to die!"

"But what are we supposed to feed them, other than ourselves?"

"We'll think of something."

"You always say that Pumbaa."

"Well, it's true. And besides, maybe we can get them on our side."

"Sounds too risky." The meerkat paused for a moment, scratching his head in thought. "But then again, with Hofu and his gang around, it sounds worth the risk. Good idea."

"Thanks buddy."

The two went over and picking up the unconscious Simba and Nala and carried them on Pumbaa's back to the oasis of water. They dropped them into the water, which, at least where they were dropped, wasn't that deep.

The two quickly woke up. "Huh?" Simba said.

"Where are we?" Nala asked.

"You're in the Jungle Oasis. Best place to be for many miles around." Pumbaa said.

"Come on, let's have our chitchat later. We don't want to be caught by Hofu." Timon said.

"We met him. It didn't go well, but we got away in the end and left him some scratches to remember us by." Simba said.

"Wow, quite impressive, to get away from him at your age!" Pumbaa gasped.

"They're lions. They're the top of the food chain! They can handle him!" Timon said. "But we can't, so let's get out of here before we're seen!"

Simba and Nala followed the meerkat and warthog. They didn't know much about them but had little choice in the matter. They hadn't had any water in two days and would have died of dehydration had the duo not rescued them. "What are you two doing out here?" Timon asked them.

"We, um, ran away from home." Nala replied, deciding not to tell the strangers about their private troubles if she could avoid it.

"This is no place to be running around alone at your age." Pumbaa scolded them.

"You two should be heading back home." Timon said.

"We can't go back." Simba said sadly.

"So, you're outcasts then?" Timon asked.

"I guess you could say that." Nala replied, not wanting to go into too much detail with these two complete strangers.

"What did you do?" Timon asked.

"Is it any of your business?" Nala asked in annoyance.

"Um, it wasn't for slaughtering a whole gang of meerkats or a sounder of warthogs, was it?" Timon inquired nervously. Simba and Nala shook their heads.

"Well, then I guess it doesn't matter." Timon said.

"Say, what are your names?" Pumbaa asked.

"Simba." Simba replied.

"Nala. And who are you two supposed to be?" Nala asked.

"I'm Pumbaa. And he's Timon." Pumbaa replied.

"Simba and Nala, you two shouldn't be messing with Hofu. He is dangerous for ones as young as yourself to deal with." Pumbaa said to them.

"We didn't exactly try and pick a fight. He started it!" Simba replied.

"Originally, I didn't like the idea of having two lions around here. However, Hofo comes around occasionally. Usually, we can avoid him by hiding in mud but twice he did spot us and Pumbaa and I just barely escaped being eaten. Maybe he won't prowl around if he knew that two lions were around here." Timon said.

"Um, do you guys have anything here to eat? I'm so hungry that I think I could eat a whole zebra." Nala asked.

"Zebra? I think I could eat an entire elephant!" Simba remarked.

"I'm afraid that we don't have zebras or elephants around here." Timon said.

"Then what do you have?" Simba asked.

"Grubs." Pumbaa replied.

"Grubs?" Nala asked.

Timon walked away and soon returned carrying large leaves with something crawling on them.

Both Simba and Nala stared at the crawling bugs with disgust. "Uggggh!" they both groaned, sticking out their tongues in disgust.

"Oh come on, it tastes like chicken." Pumbaa assured them.

"What's a chicken?" Nala asked.

"Er, never mind. Just try one. You'll like it, I promise!" Timon said to Nala.

Nala, covering her eyes so as not to see what she was eating, put one of the slimy squirming bugs into her mouth. Slowly, she chewed on it. Though it was indeed slimy, to her surprise, it wasn't bad. "Slimy, yet satisfying." she remarked.

"Yuck! I can't believe you ate that stuff!" Simba gagged, sticking out his tongue in disgust.

"Come on, Simba, it's not that bad." Nala replied. Simba frowned at her. "What, are you scared?" she taunted him. This irked Simba, who didn't want to be thought a wimp by Nala.

"Fine, give me _two_ of them!" Simba said, hoping to outdo Nala. He, again trying to appear brave, ate them with his eyes open. He chewed on them and swallowed them. He grimaced but remarked "These aren't bad at all."

Later that day, Simba and Nala were together alone near a waterfall. The twolooked the look of their new home. It wasn't the Pridelands but it sure beat the desert. "What do you think?" Nala asked him.

"It doesn't have antelope, zebras, or elephants but at least it's a nice place to live. No hyenas or jackals to worry about."

"Timon said that Hofu comes around occasionally, and he and Pumbaa think that we can fend them off."

"We barely got away last time."

"I know, but maybe he won't come back again for a long time."

"What if he comes back sometime soon, though?"

"But we're just kids. If we were adults, we could probably fend him off, but we're not."

"We'll have to think of something."

"What can we possibly do against that group?"

"If Timon and Pumbaa think that we can't help, then they might not let us stay here."

"Ha, like they could force us to leave! I'd like to see them try!"

"Let's not pick a fight with Timon and Pumbaa now. They did help restore us to health and they're the only friends we've got now that we've had to leave the Pridelands."

"Do you think the Pride will come looking for us? To try and punish us for causing your dad's death, do you?" Nala asked. Simba had been thinking about this for a while. What had his uncle told his family? Were they now cursing his name for his father's death? What was Nala's family saying?

"Even if they did, I don't see why they should look for us out here." he said.

"I guess you're right."

"So what do we do now?"

"We should explore the place. After ticking off Hofu and his goons, it would be good to know of the best places to hide."

"Hide? I don't want to hide all of my life! Why not try and look for something to help us fight Hofu?"

"What could we use? Timon and Pumbaa have been here longer and they probably would know of something, if it was to be found. We could always ask them what they know."

"But then they'd realize that we aren't much help against jackals."

"We will be when we get bigger."

"True."

The two approached Timon and Pumbaa. "We were wondering if you two knew of any good places to hide. Hofu seems determined to kill us and we don't want to get caught by him." Nala said.

"We know of a few places, but we haven't been here that long ourselves." Pumbaa replied.

"You haven't?" Nala said.

"Nope, Pumbaa and I met about three months came here a few days after that." Timon said.

"I was a lonely fellow that nobody else seemed to understand." Pumbaa said.

"You're a bit sentimental and the toxic clouds of gas that emit from your backside are a bit off-putting, but I really don't see anything wrong with you." Timon replied.

"Thanks buddy."

"Anyway, as I was saying, Pumbaa didn't seem to fit in with anybody. I used to fit in, until one day things went wrong, and the other meerkats kicked me out."

"What happened?" Simba asked.

"I was supposed to be on guard duty, but had been a little late, gathering grubs to eat as a snack while I watched. Well, these hyenas came and killed five members of our gang. I arrived in time to alert the others and save them. However, the gang was so angry at my failure that they banished me for life." Timon replied, shaking his head.

"We also had a problem with hyenas. We went where we shouldn't have, and someone got killed." Nala said, deciding to tell them some of the truth as they had been free enough to tell some of their past skeletons in the closet.

"Sorry to hear about that. Still, you're lucky to be able to get away from hyenas at your age. In fact, you seem to have quite a bit of luck, getting away from hyenas as well as Hofu." Timon remarked.

"We _barely_ got away _both_ times." Simba said.

"Still, that's quite an accomplishment for someone as young as you." Timon remarked.

"I think it's best if we low for a few days and not leave the jungle or go near the edges. That way, Hofu is less likely to spot us." Simba said.

"Unless he knows you're here and comes prowling around." Nala remarked.

"Nope. I don't think he does. Pumbaa and I barely got away from our last place. It wasn't as nice as this one. When he showed up and kept prowling around, eventually we knew that we had to get out or he'd eat us in our sleep. So, after I spied on his group and found them all asleep, Pumbaa and I got out of there right before dawn, we think he likes to prowl around after dark the most, and we've spent a long time looking for a good hideout and we recently found here." Timon replied.

"So, where do you think is the best place to hide?" Simba asked.

"Sure do. The best one, though, is more of a last resort." Timon replied.

"Why's that?" Nala asked.

A few minutes later, she had her answer as the meerkat and warthog brought them to a pool of foul-smelling mud. "Pumbaa and I figured that predators wouldn't want to hang around here." Timon told them.

"I can see why not!" Nala replied, holding her nose.

"Yeah, I'd give up on chasing anything if it came through here. It's not worth it!" Simba agreed, also holding his nose.

"I really _do_ hope that we don't have to hide here unless it's a last resort!" Nala grimaced.

"It's not so bad once you get used to it." Timon replied.

"I don't think I want to be here so long that I get used to it!" Simba remarked.

Later that day, Simba and Nala explored the jungle. It took a little over a day to cross the entire expanse of trees and rivers. On this side of the jungle, as on the side facing the Pridelands, there was nothing but desert stretching out for miles as far as their eyes could see.

(To Be Continued)


	15. CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ZIRA

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ZIRA**

* * *

One day, a group of lionesses, strong and capable, though somewhat famished, arrived in the Pridelands. Their old leader, who had recently died untimely in an accident (buried by rocks during a cave-in to be exact) and Mufasa had been on poor terms, hence they had not been allowed in the Pridelands. However, they had lately heard of Mufasa's death and his brother's ascension to the throne. As life in the Pridelands was preferable to the hash life of the Outlands, they were willing to join with a new pride rather than try and wait for a young cub among their own ranks to grow to adulthood and assume the role of king.

The name of the leader of this group was had not always been the leader. Indeed, their leader had thought little of her. They had gotten into an argument about how best to run the pride. Since Zira was low-ranking within the pride, the leader had taken her insubordination personally and had tried to kill her.

The fight had been fierce. Zira, however, had fought back far more than the others in the pride had thought possible for a seemingly weak low-ranking lioness. Zira had channeled her anger at being kicked around for years and used it to fuel her rage and give her focus in the battle. Zira had had part of her ear torn off in the fight, but this had not slowed her down. With blood pouring from her damaged ear, she'd leapt up over the head of her attacker and quickly bitten her in the back legs, causing her to stumble. She'd then seized the opportunity to attack her opponent in the throat, tearing it open and killing her.

"As the new leader, I think it best to join with Scar's pride, rather than hope to raise up a new cub to be our king or to look for a rogue lion." Zira had told her group. And so, they had all traveled to the Pridelands.

Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, and King Scar noticed the pride arriving. "Go find out who they are. Are they here for a challenge of control of the Pridelands or do they come in peace?" Scar told Shenzi.

Shenzi felt too important, being the hyena clan leader and also the second-in-command of the Pridelands, to go herself, so she told Banzai and Ed "You heard the King, go guys!" Banzai and Ed sighed, but did as she asked. Banzai did the talking since Ed was mute.

"What brings you here?" he asked.

"To ally ourselves with Scar, the new king of the Pridelands, and to join the lions of Pride Rock." Zira replied.

Banzai and Ed returned to Scar. "Your Highness, they wish to join your pride." Banzai informed him.

Scar liked the idea. An outside group of lionesses that were partial to him would serve as a great backup to his hyenas, should the lionesses of the Pride and the other creatures stage a revolt. He came and greeted them personally. "You are all welcome to join our pride." he informed them.

Zira was thrilled. This beat scrounging for food in the Outlands, even if she had to live among hyenas, whom she was not that fond of.

"Who's the new chick?" Shenzi asked Scar.

"My name is Zira, and I'm the leader of this group of lionesses." Zira replied before Scar could say anything.

"What happened to your ear?" Banzai asked her.

"The previous leader of this pride got into a fight with me. I won; she died. My ear took a bit of a beating, but at least I can still hear from it." Zira replied.

"So, you took out the previous leader of your pride?" Scar asked.

"Yes." Zira replied.

"I think we're going to get along just fine." he said, smirking.

"That's good to know." Zira remarked. She went out to the rest of her group, who had waited at the border, awaiting Scar's approval. "We can come in." she told them.

Sarabi didn't like the looks of this Zira, but, being the former queen, she had decided to extend a warm welcome to her anyway. "Hello, I'm Sarabi. Welcome to the Pridelands."

"I'm Zira. I'm glad to be here." Zira replied.

(To Be Continued)


	16. CHAPTER FIFTEEN: HUNTING

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: HUNTING**

* * *

"Nala, what are we doing" Simba asked. It was early in the morning. Timon and Pumbaa were still asleep. Pumbaa was snoring loudly. It was only because Timon was such a heavy sleeper that he hadn't woken up from the thundering snores of the warthog. Simba and Nala certainly had been woken up by it!

"Hunting." Nala replied.

"Hunting?"

"Yeah. I didn't want Timon and Pumbaa to know."

"Have you ever gone on a hunt before? All dad taught me was pouncing."

"Nope. Only learned pouncing. But I don't think it would be good to only eat bugs the rest of our lives."

"What are you planning to get?"

"A desert hare. Seems easier enough to get for us beginners."

"I don't think I've had one before, but I saw some of the lionesses of the Pride carrying dead ones in their mouths."

"I just hope that they taste good."

The two moved into the desert. It was hotter out here than in the jungle. While the jungle was hot, the air was humid, whereas here in the desert, it was dry. Simba quickly noted this to Nala. "The air sure is dry out here. I hope we can find something to eat soon or else I'll need to stop to get a drink."

"Hmmm, if we're thirsty from being out here for just a little bit, then a creature out here for hours would need to find water. And the place to do that would be a watering hole. A thirsty hare looking for water wouldn't be as alert for lions, especially as we seem to be the only two out what Timon and Pumbaa said, lions don't come out here that often at all." Nala remarked.

The two lion cubs made their way to the watering hole. They moved slowly and were as silent as they could manage in case a desert hare was already there. However, when they arrived, they found no creature present.

"Well, nobody is here. I guess we just wait." Simba remarked.

"We'll just have to wait here till a hare shows up."

"That could take all day!"

"You prefer to eat bugs instead?"

"Ok, fine. I just hope we don't wait here too long."

"Where do we hide? I don't think any hare is going to be dumb enough to come here with us in plain sight?"

"How about that tall grass by the water?"

"Ok, that'll work."

The two waited for two hours. A few animals did travel to the watering hole for a drink, but all of them, a gazelle, an antelope, and a zebra, were too big for the young cubs to try and take down.

Simba began to feel bored. Timon and Pumbaa might wake up and find that they were missing. Plus, he was hungry and hadn't had anything to eat yet that day. Wanting to amuse himself, albeit at Nala's expense, he pushed her from behind, causing her to fall forward, screaming, and land in the water with a splash. He roared with laughter.

Nala glared at him. "Simba, you are so childish!" she grumbled. She reached out her forelegs and grabbed Simba and pulled him into the water.

"Hey!" Simba cried.

"I got you back!" she laughed. Simba swiped his paw against the water, splashing Nala in the face. "Oh, it's on now!" she cried. She lunged at him with her forepaws and collided with him, knocking him headfirst into the water.

The two splashed each other and pushed each other into the water. They were quite wet when suddenly they heard the sound of something approaching. They quickly hid under the water, their heads hidden by water reeds. A desert hare came into sight. It looked around, wary due to the noise that it had heard.

The hare bent down to drink. Simba and Nala decided that now was the best time to strike. The two leapt at it. As they moved, they splashed water. The hare's ears went up as it sensed danger. Quick as a politician to break a promise, it turned in the direction of Simba and Nala and saw them coming.

Just in time, the hare moved out of the way right before Simba and Nala could make contact with it. It took off like a kid leaving school at the beginning of summer vacation. The two lions chased after it. At first, the two tried to capture it together. However, it seemed that, rather than aiding each other in capturing their prey, they were hindering each other. "Simba, you go on ahead and I'll lure it to you." Nala whispered to Simba. He nodded, casually slowed down behind Nala, so as not to alert the hare to the plan, and let Nala chased the hare. As intended, the hare was too focused on Nala to notice that he wasn't with her anymore.

Simba slowly crept behind a large clump of trees. These trees hid him from the sight of the hare. He moved ahead of Nala and the hare. After waiting for a few seconds, he saw the hare rapidly approaching, with Nala right behind it.

As the hare came level with him, he pounced. The attack didn't kill it outright, but it did injure the hare, which turned around and limped the other way. Nala pounced on it, cracking the neck. The hare fell down dead.

"I got my first kill in a hunt!" Nala said excitedly.

"Yeah, with my help!" Simba remarked.

"I can't believe we got it on our first try!" Nala said excitedly.

"Let's just eat it. I'm starving!"

"Ok. But I get to eat the first bite since I got it."

Simba rolled his eyes at her. Nala took the first bite. "It's good. Though there's not much to it."

Simba then began to nibble on the hare. "Not as good as zebra, but it's better than bugs."

Timon and Pumbaa, meanwhile, awoke. They stretched and yawned. Timon came to the spot where the kids normally slept and found it empty. "Where could they have gotten to?" he asked Pumbaa.

"I don't know. It's a fairly big jungle here." Pumbaa replied.

The two searched for a while and eventually found Simba and Nala. They were heading back into the jungle. "Where have you two been?" Timon asked.

"Out." Nala replied evasively.

"Where?' Timon asked.

"Around." Simba answered.

"I don't think they want to tell us." Pumbaa said.

"Come on kids. Spit it out!" Timon demanded.

"Out eating." Nala replied.

"Seems like an early start to get breakfast if you ask me." Timon said.

"Well, technically we didn't ask you. You were asleep, so we just went on our own." Nala replied cheekily.

"You see Timon, they were just getting some grubs. There was nothing to worry about." Pumbaa said to his companion.

"Well, at least they've already eaten." Timon remarked.

"Yep. That hare was delicious!" Simba said absentmindedly.

"Hare?!" Timon gasped.

"Simba!" Nala snapped, elbowing Simba painfully in the ribs.

"Well, we…er…wanted something more than just bugs." Simba said nervously, rubbing his ribs where Nala had hit him.

"They're already hunting! I told you that it was risky taking them in Pumbaa. How long before they go after us?" Timon cried in exasperation.

"We're not going to go after you. We could protect you better if we had a more, er, varied diet, than just the grubs. I thought you wanted you us to protect you." Nala said, quickly trying to ease Timon's fear.

"I agree. It wouldn't do to have our lions underfed." Pumbaa acknowledged.

"Besides, you two probably wouldn't taste good anyway." Simba added.

"Hey!" Timon snapped in offense.

"If it makes you feel any better, we'll have grubs as usual for lunch." Nala said.

"Good. In the future, if you are going to eat, um, bigger things, leave the bones and all of that stuff where I can't see it so I don't freak out." Timon said. The two cubs nodded.

The next day, this time not as early, for there was no need to hide from Timon and Pumbaa now, the two decided to target field mice. They figured that they would be easier than the hare had been. "And they often tend to go in groups, so we'll get more of them this time." Nala said.

However, what Nala hadn't counted on is that, while more in number meant more potential food, it also meant more eyes and ears to detect predators coming. This they found out, to their dismay, when they tried to ambush a group of them in the tall grass between the jungle and the desert. All it took was one among the group to hear them making a faint rustle of the grass, and the whole group went scrambling for cover.

"They're little field mice. Why are they so difficult?" Nala grumbled in exasperation after their fifteenth failed attempt.

"Maybe we should just settle for bugs today." Simba suggested.

"I think we should have one more go before giving up." Nala replied.

"Ok, fine."

This time, the two came at the fieldmice from opposite directions. The mice that retreated from Simba were killed by Nala and the mice that retreated from Nala were killed by Simba. They brought down a fair number of mice. Simba crunched on one of them. "Not as meaty as the hare, but they sure are crunchy." he remarked.


	17. CHAPTER SIXTEEN: JASIRI

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: JASIRI**

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Pridelands, things were going well for the hyenas. The lionesses, with the exception of the few close to Scar, like Zyra, not so much. Ed didn't mind the free food, though he feared they were overhunting.

"Pretty sweet deal we've got here, eh Ed?" his brother said to him. Ed shrugged. "Them lionesses don't seem too happy about our arrangements, but as long as Scar is king, there ain't much they can do about it."

Ed walked past Banzai, for being a hyena of no words, for he could laugh better than any other hyena, but his ability to talk was lost due to an injury due to his vocal cord when he was a pup, he didn't want to stay and chat.

He came across a pretty blue-eyed spotted hyena that he'd seen a few times but didn't know her name. As he approached her, she said to him "Hello, I don't think we've met before. My name is Jasiri. You must be Ed. Your brother told me about your accident as a cub." Ed nodded. "You were the one that killed Simba and Nala." she whispered to him, for though there were no lionesses too near, it wouldn't' do to talk to loud about such an incriminating subject. "You know, I didn't think you were capable of it. You seemed too nice. Guess you're more like your brother than I thought."

Ed silently beckoned for her to follow him not just out of the earshot of lionesses but out of the other hyenas as well. _What do you think about all of this?_ Ed asked her in sign language.

"I don't know. I get that the lions mistreated us about 80 years ago, but it seems that Shenzi, through Scar, is doing to them what he did to us. I also think we're overhunting." she said.

 _I'm not like Banzai._ Ed signed to her.

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

 _Can I trust you not to tell Shenzi and Scar?_ he signed to her, dodging her question until he could be sure that it was safe to tell her.

"Not to tell them what?" she asked him.

 _Can I trust you?_ he asked her again.

"Yes, you can trust me." she replied.

 _The cubs are not dead._ Ed told her.

Jasiri gasped. This was quite unexpected. Yet it did not seem to matter that much. They had been gone for many months now. Still, the possibility that they were alive could mean trouble. Nonetheless, she wanted proof that they were indeed still alive and that it was not some joke of Ed's.

"Is this some kind of joke or do you have any proof?" she asked him.

 _I have proof._

"Show me."Ed took her to the spot where the cubs were to have fallen. Jasiri realize with shock that there were plants at the base of the cliff, though they weren't noticeable unless you were right near the cliff's edge. Ed had let Banzai believe that the cubs had ran from him and fallen to their deaths. "Where are they now?" she asked Ed.

Ed pointed out toward the desert. _That's the last place I saw them head._

"If Simba ever comes back, Scar won't be the king anymore. That would also probably not go well for the cackle either." Jasiri sighed.

 _I couldn't kill a bunch of innocent cubs._ Ed said in sign language to her.

"I don't blame you. But Shenzi and Scar mustn't find out about this."

 _I don't plan on telling them._

"What about Sarabi and Sarafina?"

 _What about them?_

"They still think that Simba and Nala are dead."

 _How would you suggest we tell them without it getting out that the kids are alive and that we knew about it?_

"I don't know."

 _I agree with you that they should know the truth, but we don't even know if the cubs are still alive. The odds are high that they died in the desert out there. It would seem foolish to tell them anything without proof that the cubs are still alive._

"I agree on that. Perhaps we could find out." Jasiri suggested.

 _How would we do that? They could be anywhere by now, including dead._ Ed asked.

"We could look when the others are not watching us. Check the surrounding area to see if we can find any signs that they are either alive or dead." Jasiri replied.

(To be continued)


	18. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: FELLITA

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: FELLITA**

* * *

Simba and Nala had been in the jungle now for about a year. They were now quite good at catching food. The had progressed from hares and field mice to larger prey. Which was good, as they were now bigger than when they had first come. Simba had begun to grow in a mane, a dark red one rather like Mufasa had had, only not fully covering the face yet. It did help with intimidating prey, as well as, he privately admitted to himself, made him attractive in the eyes of Nala. Nala herself was larger and her pouncing ability was better than ever. Nonetheless, she didn't always beat him anymore. Much to his chagrin, she still pinned him more times than he pinned her.

The two were hoping to get an ostrich today. The two went out toward the desert in search for an easy target. They soon spotted a blue and red female with green wings wandering around alone. She seemed a fair target, though she did seem to be on the alert and looked around warily, as if expecting trouble.

"This one seems too on guard." Nala said. "Perhaps we should wait for another one."

"This one is all alone. We could wait for hours before finding another one. And I'm starving! I say we take her!" Simba replied.

"Don't let your stomach cloud your judgment Simba. If we waste our time hunting her and she gets away, you'll just be hungrier than you were before." Nala said.

"Just follow my lead." Simba replied. Nala sighed.

Simba slowly crept forward toward the ostrich, Nala following closely behind him. They paused as they reached the edge of the jungle. They waited for her to pass by, hoping to attack her right as she came near their hiding spot. They were about to pounce on her when she turned around to stare behind her. Hofu came into sight. "Go away! Can't ya leave a girl in peace?" the ostrich snapped at him.

"Aren't you tired of running already, you walking feather duster? Why not just get it over with and let me kill you already?" Hofu snapped.

"Nope! I ain't a doing that! You're not takin me down boy! Why dontcha run home back to your momma and ask her to get youa nice treat instead of wastin yourtime chasin me?" the ostrich replied.

"I think that head of yours is a bit too big for your shoulders. I think it might do you good if I took it off, that way, you won't run your mouth as much!" Hofu growled.

"At least my mouth can run faster than your legs, ya slow poke!" the ostrich mocked him.

"I tire of this senseless chitchat." Hofu remarked. "Oh boys! Over here!" he called. His crew of jackals came running. "I found our wayward ostrich. She has a big mouth that needs shutting." he told them.

"I think I'll be goin now, if that's ok with y'all." the ostrich muttered nervously. She hadn't counted on Hofu summoning his buddies, whom she'd given the slip earlier. Apparently, they weren't as far away as she'd hoped. Messing with Hofu was fun, but she knew better than to stick around with the whole group there. She ran for it, hoping to try and lose some of them in the tall grass at the edge of the jungle. The tripped over something and fell over. Her head hit the ground. What bad luck! It looked like the joke was on her. And Hofu was likely to make her end drawn out in retaliation for all of her verbal jabs at her. She looked behind her to see what she'd fallen over and saw a male lion cub. Beside him was a crouching female lion cub, poised to strike her. Perhaps they were brother and sister. "Oh, lions, just my luck!" she moaned.

Simba was sore from being run over by the ostrich. Nala thought of pouncing on the ostrich while she was down on the ground but wasn't sure that she could get the carcass hauled off before Hofu and his goons turned up.

"Lions?" Hofu cried. He didn't want to have to fight off other predators to get a meal. What were lions doing out here? He wondered. Was it those two brats he'd met awhile back? They'd last been seen around here. Was the ostrich lying to try and save her skin?

"You guys go check it out and go see if there really are lions. She could be bluffing." Hofu told his group.

"Why don't you come with us?" one of the other jackals snapped.

"Fine. You go, and I'll be behind you." Hofu said in resignation. The group crept slowly forward.

Before Simba, Nala, or the ostrich could flee, the jackals came into sight. "You!" Hofu bellowed, staring at Simba and Nala.

"Hi Hofu!" Simba said weakly, waving at him nervously.

"Kill them!" Hofu ordered his group.

Simba, Nala, and the ostrich ran for it. Due to taking the best route to avoiding the enemy behind them, they stayed together rather than going their separate ways. The three soon approached Timon and Pumbaa. "Simba! Nala! What is it?" Timon asked, staring at them in alarm as they ran past. Hofu and his goons came into sight. "Oh no, trouble! Ahhhhhh!" Timon yelled. He and Pumbaa took off after Simba and Nala.

"Who are you?" Pumbaa asked the ostrich.

"My name is Fellita." the ostrich replied.

"Nice to meet you Fellita. My name is Pumbaa." Pumbaa said.

"First,I encounter these crazy jackals; I give them the slip only to find two lions and then the jackals again. Some day I'm havin!" Fellita moaned.

"Not to worry. The two lions are friendly and are on our side." Pumbaa assured her.

"That's good to know." Fellita replied.

Simba and Nala began to run up a fallen log, hoping to reach the top level of a cliff. Below them, on the side, was a lake. The lake fed into a river which winded its way through the jungle. This section where the lake fed into the river was adjacent to the two lion cubs.

Some of the jackals leapt up at the cubs and one of them bit Nala in the leg. "Argggh!" Nala cried in pain.

WHACK! A stone whizzed through the aim and collided with the attacking jackal, knocking her loose from Nala and sending her plunging down to the water below where she was swept away by the current. Fellita had hurled it at the jackals.

"Get the ostrich!" the jackals cried. The group, led by Hofu, advanced toward Fellita. Simba and Nala, making good use of the distraction, quickly moved up to the top of the log Simba clambered off as Hofu neared the top. WAHAM! Simba hit him in the face and he stumbled backward and fell into the water below. Nala, with Simba's help, pushed the log away from the cliff, sending the other jackals into the water with their leader. "This isn't over you three!" Hofu shouted at them as he and the others were swept away by the current.

Nala's leg was bleeding, but, thanks to Fellia's intervention, the cut wasn't serious. Simba and Nala tied some dried-out vines around the cut to stop the blood loss and help the wound heal. "Thank you Fellita. You've been a great help." Nala said.

"Yeah, and to think that we were going to kill her." Simba added.

"Kill me?!" gasped Fellita.

"Well, you are an ostrich, and we do have to eat." Simba said nervously. "However, we don't eat friends." he quickly added.

"Well, that's a relief." she replied.

"We work really well together." Nala remarked.

"Yep, we sure do." the ostrich agreed.


	19. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE JUNGLE PRIDE

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE JUNGLE PRIDE**

* * *

"Word has gotten around how you guys, again, fought off Hofu. And so others wanted to come here as part of your new pride." Fellita told them a few days later.

"New pride?" Nala asked.

"Hello, my name is Woga." said a shy and nervous zebra.

"Hello Woga." Simba said.

(To Be Continued)


	20. CHAPTER TWENTY: IN LOVE

**CHAPTER TWENTY: IN LOVE**

* * *

"Ok buddy, what's the matter?" Timon asked Simba.

"It's about Nala."

"Is she sick?" Pumbaa asked.

'No, I'm in love with her."

"How wonderful!" Pumbaa said.

"So, do you guys have any advice?"

"Me? Are you kidding? I'm a washout with girls!" Timon replied.

"Nope. Sorry." Pumbaa replied.

"Well, I thought I'd ask." Simba said, disappointed.

"Do you think that she loves you?" Pumbaa asked.

"I like to think so. She hasn't outright said 'I love you.'"

(To Be Continued)


	21. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE RETURN OF ZAZU

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE RETURN OF ZAZU**

* * *

(Stuff before)

"Mom and Dad, I found this funny-looking bird that tried to eat Timon." Kiara said to her parents.

"What kind of bird?" Simba asked.

"A hungry-looking blue hornbill." Kiara replied.

"Interesting." Nala replied.

"I'll go get him for you." Kiara replied, eager to show off her catch.

"Kiara, how many times do I have to tell you not to play with your fo-" Simba began. He paused as he recognized the hornbill that Kiara had captured: Zazu.

"Zazu?" Simba gasped.

"Who are you and how do you know who I am?" the hornbill gasped.

"Scar told me that you'd died."

"Well I didn't. He banished me for letting the cubs Simba and Nala get killed."

"But we're not dead."

"Not dead? Wait…Simba? Nala?"

"Yes." Simba said.

"But Scar said you'd died!"

"He said that _you_ died!" Nala replied.

"Well, I didn't."

"Excuse me. Do you guys know each other?" Kiara, upset at being ignored and wondering what was going on, interrupted.

"Who is she?" Zazu asked Simba and Nala.

"Our daughter Kiara." Nala replied.

"Daughter?" Zazu gasped. "You mean you two are married?"

"Yes. We did get married, though we did it on our own without being made to." Simba replied.

"Wait, if you two are alive, that would make you the rightful king and queen."

"No," Simba sighed, "Scar is the rightful king. I've failed. If I hadn't disobeyed dad and gone into the Elephant Graveyard against his orders, he'd still be alive. It's all my fault."

"Simba accepting responsibility? Are you sure you're Simba?" Zazu gasped.

"Yes, I am. I've changed from how I was. I was a real jerk before."

"Dad, what is he talking about?" Kiara asked Simba.


End file.
